Sweatshops are workplaces that are harmful and hazardous. The conditions of a sweatshop generally include long hours with little pay, physical and verbal abuse, child labor, handling or proximity to toxic chemicals or other extreme conditions. Many sweatshops around the world are illegally run underground. They are found in almost every country, however sweatshops are most common in developing ones. Over 160 countries worldwide produce apparel and textile products but only 30 of them sell the final products.
Apparel and textile industries represent about half of the global industry, making it the largest industrial employer in the world. The industry employs 23.6 million workers, of which 75% are women. An estimated 350,000 workers are employed in the garment industry in Central America, of which 80% are women between the ages 14-26.
Percentage of population employed in sweatshops:
Dominican – 1.97%
Honduras – 1.76%
China – 1.62%
Sri Lanka – 1.41%
Thailand – 1.39%
Costa Rica – 1.38%
El Salvador – 1.11%
Mexico – 1.03%
Bangladesh – 1.02%
Guatemala – 0.72%
Nicaragua – 0.57%
Philippines – 0.24%
Indonesia – 0.14%
South Korea – 0.06%
Sweatshops, although they are the products of many variables, one of those variables is the race to the bottom. The corporations are looking to support their own existence and well being, part of the pragmatic paradigm, and are thus searching ruthlessly for the lowest production costs. On the other side, the countries are promoting their own economy, and their own interests, by creating sweatshops to produce cheaper and cheaper goods to attract the corporations. This is also occurring as a result of the nationalist paradigm because the countries who benefit from the corporations are unwilling stop this injustice and interfere with another country's affairs, or sweatshops.
Corporations will choose third world countries that offer the best potential for supplying cheap and willfull larborors. These people are always found in countries that offer these people no other opportunities for work or education. There are millions of families who have been stuck in the trap of sweatshops for generations and there is no end in sight. Sweatshops offer these poeple a job that they are forced to take as they have no other opportunities for work, the sweatshops then do not pay these people enough money to support their family let alone find them an education and a way out. This results in sweatshops trapping people and their children into a future of working in sweatshops or not working at all.
Although Corporations usually choose third world countries to operate in, a baseball cap manufacturer "New Era" was found paying their factory employees in the United States less then the legal minimum wage.
Sweatshops can be considered a byproduct of Economic Globalization as they are most often made possible by corporations being allowed to operate in countries other then that in which they are based.
What goes into a $100 pair of shoes made in a sweatshop?
• Retailers receive 88% of the cost
• Manufacturers receive 12%, 2% of which is profit
• Individual Employees receive a mere 0.4%
• Store receives 50% profit of the shoe’s cost
Examples of companies who have a history of, or are presently, involved with sweatshops:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, The Gap, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, Disney, Hanes, The Gap (Old Navy, Banana Republic, GapKids, and babyGap, Reebok, Adidas
Apparel and textile industries represent about half of the global industry, making it the largest industrial employer in the world. The industry employs 23.6 million workers, of which 75% are women. An estimated 350,000 workers are employed in the garment industry in Central America, of which 80% are women between the ages 14-26.
Percentage of population employed in sweatshops:
Dominican – 1.97%
Honduras – 1.76%
China – 1.62%
Sri Lanka – 1.41%
Thailand – 1.39%
Costa Rica – 1.38%
El Salvador – 1.11%
Mexico – 1.03%
Bangladesh – 1.02%
Guatemala – 0.72%
Nicaragua – 0.57%
Philippines – 0.24%
Indonesia – 0.14%
South Korea – 0.06%
Sweatshops, although they are the products of many variables, one of those variables is the race to the bottom. The corporations are looking to support their own existence and well being, part of the pragmatic paradigm, and are thus searching ruthlessly for the lowest production costs. On the other side, the countries are promoting their own economy, and their own interests, by creating sweatshops to produce cheaper and cheaper goods to attract the corporations. This is also occurring as a result of the nationalist paradigm because the countries who benefit from the corporations are unwilling stop this injustice and interfere with another country's affairs, or sweatshops.
Corporations will choose third world countries that offer the best potential for supplying cheap and willfull larborors. These people are always found in countries that offer these people no other opportunities for work or education. There are millions of families who have been stuck in the trap of sweatshops for generations and there is no end in sight. Sweatshops offer these poeple a job that they are forced to take as they have no other opportunities for work, the sweatshops then do not pay these people enough money to support their family let alone find them an education and a way out. This results in sweatshops trapping people and their children into a future of working in sweatshops or not working at all.
What goes into a $100 pair of shoes made in a sweatshop?
• Retailers receive 88% of the cost
• Manufacturers receive 12%, 2% of which is profit
• Individual Employees receive a mere 0.4%
• Store receives 50% profit of the shoe’s cost
Examples of companies who have a history of, or are presently, involved with sweatshops:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, The Gap, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, Disney, Hanes, The Gap (Old Navy, Banana Republic, GapKids, and babyGap, Reebok, Adidas